Jay Whiston

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Five teenagers arrested over the murder of an A-level student stabbed outside a house party have been released on bail, police have said.

A 17-year-old boy from Colchester was arrested on suspicion of murder yesterday, while another 17-year-old was also questioned on suspicion of murder after being arrested on Monday.

A 17-year-old boy and two 18-year-old men who were arrested on suspicion of murder on previous days have also been released on bail, while Essex Police previously said a 17-year-old boy arrested on suspicion of murder was released without charge.

A fifth teenager has been arrested over the death of an A-level student who was stabbed outside a house party.

Jay Whiston, who was 17, was knifed on Saturday night at the gathering that was attended by about 100 teenagers in an affluent area of Colchester.

Essex Police said a 17-year-old was being questioned today on suspicion of assault after being arrested in the town yesterday.

A 17-year-old boy and two 18-year-old men remain in custody at separate police stations in north Essex being questioned on suspicion of murder.

A 17-year-old boy, who had also been arrested on suspicion of murder, has been released without charge, police said.It is believed details of the event were circulated on the social networking site Facebook and a number of uninvited guests turned up.

"We are not supposed to be here, not today, my son is supposed to be in school. He was an A-level student, studying law, he had his whole life mapped out, he was going to get married, he was going to have two girls [...] and now he is just gone."

This really is tragic loss of life that we, but more importantly, this boy's parents have to deal with. This murder took place in an affluent area of Colchester and at a house party which had a garden that could cater for the 100 or so teenagers that were present.

Although we don't yet know the details of what went on, we're slowly piecing together the sequence of events that led to this boy's death. We're speaking to those who were at the party, but we're mindful that there may have been others who left either before the stabbing or in the immediate aftermath before we arrived.

Everyone at this party is a key witness whether they saw anything or not and we would urge them to contact us. Our thoughts are very much also with this boy's family. They are being supported by our family liaison officers.